Dr. StrangeLove

Jens Stoltenberg went on Fox News this week. It did not go the way Trump would have liked. The former NATO Secretary General, now Norway’s Finance Minister, was asked about Trump’s threats to pull the United States out of the alliance. He answered with the kind of calm, precise demolition that only a Norwegian diplomat can deliver without raising his voice once. On why Europe didn’t join the war: “NATO is a defensive alliance. The strikes or the war against Iran were never an attempt to make that into a NATO operation.” On whether Europe disagrees with America about Iran: “We all agree the Iranian nuclear program is dangerous. The question is how we achieve that goal.” Translation: the problem was never the destination. It was the lunatic who decided to get there by setting the car on fire. On what Trump should have done before launching: “If you want NATO to contribute, then at least you have to sit down with NATO allies, as you did after 9/11. You cannot expect us just to be there without any consultations, any discussions in NATO before you take the decision to launch the attack.” This is Stoltenberg saying, in the most polished terms imaginable, that you do not start a war at two in the morning on Truth Social and then ring your allies for help at breakfast. On whether Europe abandoned America: “The majority of European allies have made sure that their bases and infrastructure were available for the United States. There are some exceptions, but most have contributed.” Most helped. Quietly. Without being asked to endorse a war they considered illegal. On why leaving NATO would be catastrophic for America specifically: “The United States is 25 per cent of the global economy. But together with NATO allies, we are 50 per cent of the global economy and 50 per cent of the world’s military might. So it makes the United States safer to have friends and allies — something that Russia and China don’t have at all.” And then, in a separate interview, the warning nobody in Washington wants to hear: “It’s not a natural law that we will have NATO forever. It’s not carved in stone that NATO will exist for the next ten years.” That last line was not a threat. It was a diagnosis. Trump called NATO a Paper Tiger. Stoltenberg replied, with characteristic Norwegian understatement, that paper tigers tend to be considerably less useful once you’ve set them on fire yourself. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1